Rolling Meadows Says No To Housing Proposal

The Rolling Meadows City Council this week unanimously vetoed a plan to build six $750,000 single-family homes on the southwest corner of Meacham and Old Plum Grove Roads.

The proposal required rezoning the area to an R-1 single-family district with minimum lot sizes of 10,000 square feet. The current R-5 zoning requires lot sizes of at least 32,600 square feet, or three-quarters of an acre.

Neighboring residents of the Old Plum Grove Woodlands subdivision objected to the development proposal, citing a 20-year annexation agreement with the city, approved in 1991, that promised to require future lot sizes in the area to be three-quarters of an acre.

The aim of the provision, residents said, was to maintain the neighborhood's rural nature.

The city Plan Commission in August rejected a previous plan by Kirk Partners to build an upscale senior living facility on the 3.6-acre site.

"We owe it to the residents to keep to the (three-quarter acre) standard," said Ald. Kenneth Nelson. "It would have been ill faith to pass and approve a change in zoning. We did have a contractual agreement with residents in the area, and I think we are bound to keep it."